By Emmy Huefner
¡Adiós, Guatemala!
On Sunday, we flew from Guatemala City to Managua, Nicaragua, and we are now in the town of Matagalpa, where the electricity is spotty and where they don’t pronounce their “S’s” at the end of a word. In some ways, Nicaragua feels very similar to Guatemala: toilet paper still must go in the trash can, there’s no shortage of crazy drivers on motos, and natives still love to stare at us, Gringos. But we have had some new experiences now that we have changed countries; sadly, there isn´t the same abundance of yummy corn tortillas at every meal, we are adjusting to a new currency—meaning we utilize our human calculator, Tav, more often—and you never know when you’ll be able to see because half the time ¡no hay luz! (there’s no light). The electricity goes off and on here in Matagalpa, and the natives say they are very used to it and it takes a while to come back on. This means headlamps, cold showers, and romantic, candle-lit classes.
We have been taking group Spanish classes this week and have daily activities organized by the school. We have learned about Nicaraguan politics, history, and feminism, had a cooking class where we learned to make enchiladas, and climbed up a mountain with a giant cross to see the city. We´ve been busy planning SDT (Student Directed Travel) coming up in a few weeks and are deciding where to stay and what to do.
We’re living with homestay families where the communication can be challenging, but funny, at times. My 9-year-old host brother asked Caroline, Logan, and me if, “quieren jugar uno?” (Do you want to play one?) We expected him to say something after “uno,” so we asked, “One what?” When he recognized we were confused, he showed us the red box of cards that said “Uno” and we realized that he meant the card game. We all had a good laugh because we had been translating “uno” to “one,” and we hadn’t thought about the game. The next day, while trading homestay stories, we found out that the exact same thing happened to another group the night before.
Our first week here in Nicaragua has been filled with adventure, education, and strengthening of friendships. We are excited to see what else Nicaragua brings to us in the coming weeks and what else we continue to learn from this culture, the people, and the language.